JIMIN POV:

There's something decidedly furtive in the way Hobi hyung and (Y/N) exchange glances throughout dance practice, something teasy in the way Hobi hyung nudges (Y/N), or wraps his arms around her to twirl her away from moving close, eyes flashing with amusement as he watches Kookie eagerly tug her towards him instead. Away from me.

It's odd, because it seems like (Y/N) wants to say something, seems to have something playing on her mind, something her expressive eyes gives away. It seems like Hobi hyung if anything is playing and toying with that fact and stealing away opportunities from her.

And by the time dance practice is over, whilst we do have a selection of competitions narrowed down and finalised and a rough plan for which songs to assign to which competition, we also have a silently seething (Y/N) who huffs and ducks out of Hobi hyung's darting for her to dive behind Kookie instead.

"Awww baby don't hide from me. I'm sorry~"  he wheedles, but his face is still wry with amusement and he grins unashamedly.

"No you're not! Don't lie to my face Hobi!"    (Y/N) says with an unimpressed stare when she peeks out from behind Kookie, clutching onto his shirt for protection.

Hobi hyung pouts, making grabby hands as he stretches them towards her.

"Fine, I won't lie either. But am I not allowed to have a little bit of fun with our girl?" he asks.

Our girl. It has a perfect ring to it. Our girl. And we're hers.

She smiles, ire melting away in an instant that makes me realise that she was just playing, just huffing and hiding to tease back at him, giggling when he makes a mad swipe for her as he grabs Kookie and reaches back but she dances out of reach, spinning away.

"Of course you can. Just know I'll get back at you in equal measure Hobi!" she says, making her way over to me, smiling when I immediately take her hand and lace our fingers together.

She looks up at me, cheeks rosy from exertion and smiles, lips parting to give a smile- that still dazzles, that still makes my heart race and quicken and still makes me pause just to take in the sight of her over and over.

"Jimin can we talk? I've been wanting to ask you something." She says, with a light squeeze to my hand but her face flashes with uncertainty and hesitance, a bit of shyness.

Whatever she wants to say, ask is something that means a lot to her. Something Hobi hyung knows but concerns me.

Otherwise she would've asked Kookie too.

Kookie turns to look at the two of us, face confused and head tilted.

"Find me afterwards then? Or just call if you can't." he says easily, lips curved up with an easy smile, eyes soft and gentle.

Because somehow he knows. He knows without her needing to say it, that it's something important, something that doesn't require him.

And just as easily he accepts that, so perfectly attuned with her needs and wants it seems because it makes (Y/N) smile at him and nod eagerly, smiling against his lips when he pecks her goodbye and leans over to kiss me too.

"Have fun! (Y/N) likes the place that does the cool sundaes." He leans in to whisper into my ear, leaning back and giving me an endearing sweet smile as his eyes flit to (Y/N). Again just knowing.

I'd have to ask him about that one of these days. Kookie always gave up information so easily when he was either sleepy or so deeply satiated, clingy and extremely tactile and willing to indulge with the mine of information he kept close like cards to his chest.

I wouldn't mind having either version of Kookie curled up close.

Wouldn't mind having both.

"Thanks sweetheart. I'll make sure to pay you back." I promise, lips curving up. His cheeks flush, but his words are deceptively coy.

"Make sure you do hyung." And then he's being tugged away by Hobi hyung who laughs and shoots a knowing look first to me and Kookie, and then a much softer, encouraging knowing look to (Y/N)- leaning in to whisper something into her ear that has her hugging him tightly and holding onto him for a few long instants.

And then finally it's only the two of us.

I turn to face her.

"So...what's on your mind angel?" 

-----

I watch (Y/N) pout. Never did I think it would be directed to the sundae. That an inanimate...no a piece of food would be shot such a morose, guilty look that flashes with longing.

"Just eat it!" I laugh, her eyes snapping up to meet me and the pout deepening, eyes so deep and morose and regretful. For a second I forget that she'd gotten that look when the cute sundae had arrived, that she was that pouty because she didn't want to ruin it.

And for a second feel a flash of surging panic, because I shouldn't have said that! The apology is just about forming when I catch sight of her hands protectively curving around the glass stem of the sundae, tugging it back to shield it from me.

"It'll get ruined! It's too pretty." She laments even as her eyes drift with longing towards the array of toppings and ice cream.

I sigh.

"Eat up angel. We can come back anytime. There'll always be another sundae waiting." I say, heart bursting with fondness with the way her teeth sink into her bottom lip, torn and hesitating.

I move my spoon to hover threateningly over her sundae, threaten to cleave my spoon through it and ruin the aesthetic.

She yelps, hand darting to grip my wrist, face aghast.

"Don't you dare!" she exclaims horrified at the threat.

My lips quirk.

"Two conditions. One you eat it yourself. Two you tell me what you wanted to. The more you bottle things, the harder it gets to say them." I say.

She sighs, knocking my spoon away with hers before she abruptly digs her spoon in, the metal sinking into the scoop of ice cream before she can dither and change her mind. 

And brings the spoonful towards her mouth, taking a bite.

"Mmmm...fine maybe it was worth it." She admits, drawing the spoon away from her mouth, the metal of it hovering near her lips.

And then she's pushing her sundae glass forward.

"Try some" she says with a sweet lilt to her smile before taking my own proffered glass to happily sink her spoon in.

Once the top layer of decoration is disfigured, she's happy to eat the sundae, small happy hums as she scoops up toppings and feeds me them as well as herself. And still she doesn't speak what it was she wanted to say, happy to engage in small talk. To tease and be teased, to take the flirting so easily under her belt, so readily without as much flush on her cheeks as I'd wished that it has me feeling as if I'm underperforming somehow.

Lost my touch when that same endearing shyness doesn't make a reappearance but she just knowingly smiles, eyes sparkling with warmth, amusement and a knowing glint. As if she knows what I'm upto, as if seeing right through each gesture.

But equally so she's not unaffected, just dealing rather well with it all.

"Stop flirting! It's making it hard to think." She complains with a small twitch of her lips from around her spoon.

Her tongue drags across the metal of the spoon slightly as she drags it from between her lips, my eyes drawn to the sight and frozen there for far longer than they should be. Unable to tear my eyes away from the sight of her rosy lips parting around the polished spoon, tongue darting back in after swiping at them.

I don't know whether she's doing it intentionally, whether she's even consciously aware that she's putting on a sensual show, that her very act of eating ice-cream has caused my blood to burn and my hand to tightly grip at the spoon, legs stiffening under the table. It's hard not to lean over the table and taste the sweetness of ice cream on her lips, frustrating that the table is a barrier between us that prevents me from reaching across for her, to draw her into my arms. Those feelings that I'd considered intoxication that night at the club, had considered buzzy floaty feelings driven and only ever rising to the surface because of the cocktails still rushed and buzzed through my veins.

Had never truly been able to be suppressed. With each day had only grown and gotten headier, thicker, stronger. 

And it's not the first time I wonder what her lips would feel like against my own, playing that incidental way they'd brushed against mine on a constant loop on my mind. And yet it didn't satiate that craving for her, it just made it grow and grow. That slightest feel of her close to me had made me long, long for her, to hold her close, to share the same breath with her.

And blink out of that haze when I see her head cocked at me, staring intently as if she'd just asked me something.

She probably had. I hadn't even realised that her lips must've moved for all that I was staring at them.

"Do I have something on my face?" she asks, breaking the silence as her hand reaches out for a napkin before mine darts out.

"No, there's nothing there. Sorry..." I mumble.

She smiles, twisting her hand to hold it up, palm out towards me. Wriggles her fingers.

"So...I have a few questions Jimin." She starts.

There it is. The flash of nervousness in her eyes.

My fingers slide from around her wrist to her palm.

"Go for it angel. I'm all yours."

-----

"So will you consider it? I know you might not want to. That it's not easy being a contemporary duo, it requires practice, time, patience and trust. It's perfectly fine if you don't want to but Hobi said—" she says in a hurry of words once we walk out of the ice-cream parlour, her body turned towards me as she speaks, hand fiddling with the strap of her bag, eyes flitting from me to the ground. 

"Yes. Of course yes. A thousand times yes     (Y/N)." I breathe, stunned at her.

How was she constantly blowing us away with surprise after surprise.

When she'd finally begun speaking the last thing I'd imagined was this. That she wanted to perform and compete as a contemporary duo, that she wanted me to be her dance partner. My mind was still reeling, trying to process the fact that she hadn't just casually 'dabbled' in contemporary dance as a hobby, but she was very clearly advanced enough to want to put herself forward to compete.

I was so, so proud by the shining eagerness and strength that exuded out of her as she spoke, by that passion that caused her eyes to blaze as she talked about it.

It meant a lot to her. And confessing that she wanted to dance contemporary, that she wanted to dance with me took a lot of inner strength and courage. And for that, just for that alone, I fell deeper into that consuming, tender, welcoming abyss that was her. 

So when she turns and faces me with disbelief and dawning hope lighting across her features, I can't help but repeat it over and over, a litany of yeses spill past my lips until she's smiling, giddily and exuberantly. Unrestrained in her joy as she looks at me.

"You mean it?" she asks.

I nod eagerly.

"Of course I mean it angel.", sweetly surprised by the way she wraps her arms around my neck and presses a kiss to my cheek, a bubble of surprised joyous laughter spilling out when I wrap my arms around her waist and spin her around, her hands tightening, the world a rush of colour, indecipherable blur. Everything melts away and I see her, only her. The dazzling smile that seems to have been lit up from within, the curve of her lips before she's leaning to press kisses to my face, lips brushing butterfly kisses to my cheeks, the tip of my nose and then pecking my lips.

And when I set her down, I make no move to let go, holding her close as she looks at me, breath quick and hearts racing as we stare at each other.

"Your yes means the world Jimin." She whispers.

I lean in, noses brushing as I meet her eyes.

"And your smile means the world to us." I whisper back.

(Y/N) POV:

"Oppa he said yes! Unnie he said yes!" I call as I push open the house door, barely waiting for it to shut behind me before I'm hastily toeing off my shoes, dance bag discarded to the side as I rush in, darting into the living room. 

Odd enough. Neither of them are there.

No Habaek oppa curved up on a couch pouring over notes or a book. No Mi-sun unnie flicking through the cache of glossy photos sent from her shoot. Nor the sight of them squabbling and arguing in the heated yet exasperated way only the two of them can.

I turn to leave, moving towards the kitchen, smiling when I find the two of them there.

"Habaek oppa did you hear me? He said yes! Jimin really said yes!" I say joyously, hurrying in my haste to get to the two of them, socked foot sliding across the polished tile and body tilting forward, a yelp rushing out.

But before I hit the ground a pair of arms catch me.

As they always have.

As they always will.

And Habaek oppa's fond expression looking down at me as he tightens his hold, draws me in for a squeezing greeting cuddle.

"Hey there cherub. You nearly fell for me there." He teasingly says, brushing a kiss to my temple, laughing when I giggle and Mi-sun unnie groans.

"That's a terrible joke. You my darling sweetheart need to stop telling him jokes Jin constantly woos you with. He's making a bad habit of it!" she complains, stopping in her stirring of the meat sauce to stare unimpressed at the two of us.

Habaek oppa sighs as he spins me around, looping his head over my shoulder as he peers at unnie.

"Why? Cherub likes them. They're solely for her, so what's the issue? It's not like I'd waste one of my wooing lines on you granny." He retorts, amusement in his tone as he undoubtedly pulls a face at her.

I smile and lean into him as he backhugs me.

"Don't be smiling (Y/N)! You're the worst when it comes to motivating these things! Stop encouraging bad habits." She admonishingly says.

"No...she's the best when it comes to these things! My personal cheer girl. So hush granny and fuss and complain over the sauce. You'll burn it!" Habaek oppa smugly says.

Causing her to turn and move the pan off the burning stove to the back.

Before she's turning with a grin. Seeming to dismiss Habaek oppa completely if his disgruntled scoff is anything to go by as she peers at me.

"He said yes then? Oh darling the way you're saying it is as if you'd proposed! And if that's the case then you should've let me charm and woo my way in too!" she teasingly says.

I sigh, eyes rolling fondly at the flirtiness innately built into her.

"Those lines you tend to drop around them. They're not here...and besides you know what I mean! Jimin said he'd be my duet partner!" I say, unable to stop grinning, the smile unable to vanish from my face.

She coos, leaning in to pinch my cheek- soft at first and then hard enough I yelp and pull away, ruefully rubbing at it.

Habaek oppa swoops in to peck it, to kiss it better as he always does, before winding arms tighter around me.

"Leave cherub alone! You're just devastated that she's been swept away before you got to torment her boys more." He says.

Her boys. My boys. The sound of that makes my heart race, thudding away quickly.

And the slightest twitch to her lips before her face goes impassive is answer enough.

I wriggle to get free from oppa's hug.

"Hey! No fair...are you never going to break that tradition?" I ask with a huff, moving to nudge her aside with my hip as I take her place at the stove, tugging the pot back and reaching for the spices.

And when a body drapes over mine, it's hers.

"Never darling. One you'd be taking away almost half the fun and half the purpose of my entire existence and second it weeds out the bad ones. Though it's another thing if I already know they're good ones." She muses aloud, voice full of sly humour.

But what she doesn't say, what remains unspoken is that she's always had my back, always will.

That if the people who've shown an interest in me can be so easily swayed and lured in by her siren beauty and her allure, then they're not good ones. That if they can't tolerate my family, the ones who mean everything to me then they're not worth it.

And this is her own way of showing she cares, that she approves of them even if she does it in a playful manner.

And then she pecks the curve of my ear.

"I'm glad he accepted. He'd be mad to say no. Even if he doesn't know that their sweet (Y/N) is renowned through history for her dance." She murmurs, opening her mouth for some of the sauce that I bring to her lips with a small spoon.

She hums her agreement at the taste.

"No-one knows. Only you two. The only ones who'll really ever know." I muse aloud.

Her hands tighten.

"It's such a shame too. If they weren't already utterly and completely smitten with you, this would just push them that much deeper in love." Mi-sun unnie trills.

I laugh, shaking my head.

"You're impossible. No-one knows, no-one would believe it. It just doesn't make sense. Fairy-tales and myths were perhaps believable centuries ago. Not today. Not in the world we're in now." I say with a laugh.

But deep down, for the slightest instant, my mind entertains the ludicrous idea.

How would the boys ever react if they knew? That I was older than all of them combined. That I'd seen the world change and history form. That small minute traces of the three of us remained somewhere.

And find my mind immediately rejecting the idea.

Like I said...it makes no sense. No-one would believe it.

Why would they be any different? And there was no saying that even if in the slightest chance they believed it, that they wouldn't see me as something weird, an anomality in the cycle of life.

A freak of nature.

Because even though I knew just how sweet and tender-hearted they all were, when faced with things no-one had any control over, no knowledge of. It turned the sweetest souls with terror.

And fear was an ugly feeling. Blinding and consuming.

And to have it come from them towards me, for me was a thought I didn't even want to begin to entertain.
-----

I curl under the duvet, drawing it over me as I settle down for the night, cocooned with warmth when my phone chimes. A low buzz against the mattress as it vibrates. And then another vibration.

Fishing it out reveals two text messages.

One from Jimin.

One from Namjoon.

Clicking onto Namjoon's first, I smile at his text. Asking me out for a book café date.

Time with Namjoon was always so sweet, so preciously intimate and cherished. Something so intrinsically soothing and gently safe about being near him, about being wrapped up in those arms and curled close to his chest. A deep magic that didn't need to exist in terms of the modern world and something that couldn't be defined by the terms of the old world gone by.

It was a magic that came in the form of sweet, endearing excitement, dimpled smiles and large broad hugs. A magic that came with this deep silent understanding as he talked to me, a magic that came with the excitement that lit up his eyes. A magic that came with the silent promise to heal.

Something that he shared so, so strongly with Habaek oppa.

And then Jimin's message.

One question.

But one that sends my heart to race, fingers tightening around my phone.

Do you have a song in mind for our duet?

I do.

(THERE WE GO! KINDA UNSURE ABOUT THE FINAL CHUNK BUT HOPEFULLY IT FLOWED TOGETHER REALLY WELL AND WAS OKAY IN READING! WELL ACTUALLY I HOPE YOU ALL REALLY ENJOY THIS CHAPTER! WITH MINNIE AND BABY SIREN HAVING AN ICE CREAM DATE AND HIM BEING SO SO READY TO BE HER PARTNER! SO THERE'LL BE LOTS OF THAT COMING UP TOO! AAHHHHH! SO EXCITED TO WRITE THE UPCOMING CHAPTERS ESPECIALLY BECAUSE IT'LL FOCUS ON THEIR DANCE AND LOTS OF BONDING AND TRUST AND SNIPPETS OF HER PAST MERGING WITH THE PRESENT! SO I'M SO READY FOR THAT TOO! PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THE PACE OF THE PLOT SEEMS TO BE DRAGGING, IF IT'S JUST SLOW TO READ I GUESS AND WHETHER IT'S EVEN BEING ENJOYED! AND....THAT'S ABOUT IT! LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS, TAKE CARE AND STAY SAFE LOVES!)

QUESTION...SOMETHING SPECIAL ABOUT TODAY?

Mine is....SNOW! Don't know if ALL Londoners got this but we had heavy thick snow today! And whilst I wasn't feeling my best yesterday, I felt so fresh and energetic today! Almost as if the snow wiped away everything! A new clean slate! And I just really am happy today cos of it I guess!

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3